OT: men wearing ear-rings

What I did was to butterfly the excess cotton and clip it with a little hairclip (the sort you can use to clip the edges of a quilt together). That made it into a neat enough bundle to pass through, but the plies just went berko on me! I gave up in the end.

Hee! You really are into it then! Have you got any projects on the horizon beyond luggage tags? I loved the texture of the ones you showed me and the potential for colour combos is attractive too.

Oh, thanks for that! I've got one idea about a needle, or rather a shuttle. I'm going to try and whittle one out of a paddlepop stick. Sounds a bit whacko, but I think I can do it with me little arlec supertool. The hard part will be sanding it smooth enough not to snag the thread.

ROTFL! I know exactly what you mean! I'm not usually stymied by thread, though, and it was a nasty shock to have it happen. I've put it by for now.

Yeah! Now the weather's a bit nicer (it's been positively cool down our way the past week or so - I even put doonas on the beds for the first time since last winter - hooray!)

You never did send me a pic of the camellia you stitched... (just hinting) ;-D

Yes... I think I've seen a similar technique mentioned in a magazine a long while ago (the 'Women's Weekly' put it out, I think). It would really be a labour of love to work an afghan like that - I'd hate to make a mistake and not realise it! LOL!

Wow! Got any pics? I'd love to see that! What colours did you use?

(Smacks self upside the head) I never thought of blending! Of course, that'd be the way to go! It's a long time (hmmm... fourteen years...) since I thought about it, but the discussion of kilts reminded me. I always meant to work out a XS tartan and never did. The one I'd like to do is called 'Lamont' and it's basically blue and green with two white stripes and two black stripes intersecting. Pretty, but complicated to work out.

I remember, I did do quite a bit of work in SuperPaint with overlays. I actually got to the point where I could use transparent paint to render a pretty realistic tartan and apply it to irregular surfaces. That was by way of sorting out my Piper problem and the way the kilt draped. I gave up in the end because I'd used the wrong scale and it looked like too much work to go back and increase everything by 33.3% and then divide it by four. It sounds garbled, but I know what I mean.

Now, I have no Mac and would have to translate the whole project into PhotoPaint... Bleargh! =:-0

That's what I think of as beanies. Preferably with the propeller on top, though my burgundy ensemble du choir didn't include one on our beanies.

Tia Mary wrote: > maybe I need to 'splain that

Si, Luceeeeee, you got some splainin to do! ;)

Hey Ricky-You talkin to me?

Turns out the man's name is Kenneth Allen, to give credit where credit is due for this particular afghan.

Fortunately, it's such a regular pattern that you tend to see mistakes right away. I rarely had to pull anything out. It was pretty brainless once you had the thing set up properly. The hardest part was lugging all those darned skeins of yarn around and keeping them from getting too tangled! I get most of my stitching time out on the run (when chauffering the kids around or waiting on them...not too much free time available at home), so the lack of portability was a royal PITA. That, combined with the wrist trouble and the fact that it was too darned hot in the summer to work on such a heavy afghan meant that it took a looooooong time to finish the darned thing.

Like an idiot, I didn't take any pictures before I gave it away! Silly me. The book I got the pattern from was this one:

did it in off white, pale yellow, light blue, and navy blue(which were the suggested colors in the pattern). I had actuallywanted to do some different colors, but the day I was at theyarn store those ended up being the colors I liked, that wenttogether, that they had in the yarn and quantities I wanted!It was for a child, so the colors actually worked well for theintended recipient.

I can't believe after all that time and trouble with my wrist that I didn't take a picture! I'd love to do another one because the thing turns out just lovely--so thick and warm and cozy. I love that it doesn't have the usual "holes" that you find in most crocheted afghans to trap tiny fingers and toes-- but it just seems too daunting to consider!

Best wishes, Ericka

There *might* be one in my Webshots album.

I've got the chart in front of MOI but there's no url. The design is by Marianne Shellhamer of Hillcroft House. All that is given is an email of snipped-for-privacy@aol.com You can likely Google any of that and get better info. Well, *I* can do that too -- hang on a minute............ OK -- got the info. The e-mail is now snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net and the url is

Unfortunately, the website doesn't list anything in a tartan any longer :-(. I Googled tartan cross stitch and found a ton of links so you might try doing that. Bummer!!! CiaoMeow >^;;^<PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Fred

Some of them sure act as though they are !!

With the gripfid you stick the end of the splitter cord into it and pull it through the splittee. At the beginning there are yards of cords in all directions, but you don't butterfly them. After a while you start to get more comfortable with the mess. If you butterfly the cords you're going to have a devil of a job pulling the spiltter through the little gap between the plies. Mind you, it's easier to do on the bus if there's no one sitting next to me!

I've been experimenting with POT. (OK, settle down, everyone, that's Plain Oblique Twining). On the bus to and from work I've been doing a sampler in the school colours that I'll put on my desk at school. I started in the middle with a length of Single Course Oblique Twining, which I think is what you would have seen, Trish, then I folded it in half and continued with POT. So I've got a nice loop which turns into a flat panel. Then as I've gone along I've played with the idea of doing a double split with the same pair of cords, which turns the cords back and ends up giving interesting colour effects. I don't know yet how I'm going to finish it. I might take small groups of cords and SCOT them, so that I'll end up with some litle tails at the bottom. The whole thing will probably be only about a foot long, so I'm not making a major project out of it.

Lacis has some netting needles, but they'll all probably be much too big for what you want. Couldn't find gripfids on the Lacis web site, by the way. Probably didn't look in the right place.

Still hot and sticky in Brisbane. That humidity, however, has come with some desperately needed rain, so I'm not going to complain. Our dams are over 30% now.

Sorry about that. I'm sure there's one hiding on this computer somewhere. If I find it I'll email it to you.

Johnno

"Trish Brown" wrote

IIRC Erica Wilson had a chapter in one of her books on "Plaidpoint", which I think was her original term. She worked tartans in needlepoint by some combination of missing stitches horizontally and filling them in vertically, which would be much less tedious than counting out stitch by stitch, and sort of approximated a weave. I will look it up tomorrow now that my mind has recovered a few shards of it.

BTW, Trish, lovely to see you back. I've been away a year or so myself, and was glad to find you here again.

Dawne

I'm glad you're the one who said it.

LOL! I can imagine! I'm trying to remember the technique published in the Women's Weekly... I think it was a plain treble crochet (US would call it 'double') with long chains of contrasting colours woven through the 'holes'. The resulting afghans *looked* nice, but I don't think they'd be as cosy or warm as the one you describe. I've since heard of a more favourable technique, but haven't seen a picture to comment on.

Mum knitted some great big squares in her favourite football club colours a few years ago and I crocheted them together for her. That's the closest I've come to finishing an afghan in years.

Oh, that sounds lovely, especially for a child! I'm so sorry you didn't take a pic: isn't it *galling* when you suddenly realise the item's gone with no record? I'm reminded of all the zillions of pretty little frocks I made for DD when she was a toddler and little girl. They're all gone now and she can't remember half of them. Sigh. My favourite was the bottle green corduroy pinafore with a big teddy bear appliquéd on the front. The appliqué fabric was in a matching green brushed cotton with tiny white teds printed on. I made a blouse out of that and the ensemble looked just gorgeous.

Never mind! Are you still in touch with the recipient? P'raps they might take a pic for you and send it on?

At the time i explored knitting tartans i found my that knitting , first the Horizontal stripes and the wider Vertical stripes as separate colums, and embroidering the [thin] vertical stripes later worked best for me .. mirjam

Geez!!!! Raechel's all grown up into a Big Girl! Is she at school yet? And how's your DSIL's health?

Yep, I think it was the butterflying that undid me. If it's all the same to you, I think I'll wait a while before I take it on the bus with me. People would think I was a practitioner of discipline and bondage (that's pronounced 'bondarje', FYI), what with all those knots!!!

Yes, the ones you showed me had oblique stripes in yellow and blue (quite pretty). Have you learned how to turn corners yet? That looks PB challenging!

Yes, I'm sorry about that! I think I misdirected you! I was searching for netting needles and the Lacis site came up - I think I saw another pic in Google that included a gripfid on it. I'll fossick about, if you like, and see if I can't find it again. Do the fids come in different sizes? Also, I notice you can use a latchet hook to do ply-split braiding as well. Have you tried that at all, Johnno?

Yeah, it's good, isn't it? I think Warragamba must be full by now. We've had far more rain for this time of year than we've had in absolutely ages. Nice to see the cattle getting fat again!

Oh! You really have to post that somewhere! It's just stunning! Go over to webshots.com and start an account. You could post it there so others can have a look at it.

Mirjam wrote

At the time i explored knitting tartans i found my that knitting , first the Horizontal stripes and the wider Vertical stripes as separate colums, and embroidering the [thin] vertical stripes later worked best for me ..

Yes, I've seen this technique, somethings with a crochet line being used probably where you embroidered. Makes sense, and keeps down the number of balls of different colours that one is dealing with at once. The Plaidpoint thing I think missed every second stitch, so you actually got a bit more of a woven effect. BTW, the tartan worn by my mother's family has 7 colours--it would be a bit of a challenge to work out. Dawne

And have you been stitching, Dawne?

I haven't touched a needle in years and years (well, except for dressmaking of course). I picked up a little unfinished sampler the other day and have done about a quarter of it since then. I have Plans for other pieces and I might even start another one. Maybe. In the meantime, I've gotten out my old doodle cloth and have been experimenting with reticella and drawn thread stitches. They always fascinate me.

I've got an idea rolling around in my head. I thought I could work an owl (favourite bird) in white on white. OR a variegated grey or brown on black. It could be a mixture of reticella and drawn thread work and I could back it in a nice sage green fabric. I can't decide on an owl, though (been sketching all morning) and haven't even decided if I want a realistic one or a stylised one. I've got some lovely old scraps of handkerchief linen to doodle on, but I want to have a picture firmly in mind before I start. And I'm starting a cold, of all things, so my brain function is steadily draining away into a tissue! =:-0

Actually I was expecting some strange looks, but I haven't had any. A couple of people have asked me what it is, but apart from that, nothing. Which is exactly how it should be, of course.

The blue and yellow diagonal stripe piece is just a luggage thing that I'm going to give to my sister. And turning corners is dead easy. In fact you can keep turning in the same direction and end up with a spiral.

I started uff using a latch hook,,and it was OK, though it's harder to pull a loop through. I was amazed at how much easier it was with the gripfid, as it opens a nice little channel through the plies, and draws the splitter back through the same channel.

Johnno